Teresa & Joe Giudice could face up to 50 years of prison

Teresa Giudice and Joe Giudice, the stars of ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey”, are accused of Federal Fraud charges.

In order to achieve larger loans, the couple used to fake their income and this was sometimes done deliberately even before ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’ started. Teresa and Joe appeared in the court on Tuesday and were released on unsecured bail bonds of $500,000. Both appeared with different lawyers much to the surprise of the court. Teresa has stated that she supports her husband and taking a different lawyer is just a strategic move.

Joe and Teresa had filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and then dropped their petition in 2011. The 39- count federal indictment that was handed on Monday claims that Teresa did not disclose her Real Housewives income in her bankruptcy filing.

Todd Unger, the tax attorney general of New Jersey, said that when someone files for bankruptcy everything is public contrary to which Joe and Teresa were trying to hide their assets and income during the process. They could face 50 years in prison if they are found guilty of charges.

The charges against them are that the couple had applied for loans from 2001-2008 and now lied about their employment status and salaries. In 2001, when applying for a mortgage loan of $121,000, Teresa lied about working as an executive assistant.

People close to the couple, however, have said that Teresa, mother of four, is not capable of the fraud. Keeping aside the trial for a moment it has been speculated that the couple will be able to convince the government so as to avoid stiffest of penalties that their case carries.